Issues

Shaming of Witness Claiming Veterans Disability

In a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on June 26, 2013, Duckworth questioned and gave an earful to businessman Braulio Castillo.[7] Castillo broke his foot in a prep school injury nearly three decades ago at the U.S. Military Preparatory School, which he attended for nine months before playing football in college. He owns a technology business certified as a service-disabled, veteran-owned company eligible for government set aside contracts.[7]

The hearing came after a months-long House probe into whether Castillo’s company won IRS contracts thanks, in part, to help from a top contracting official and friend inside the IRS named Greg Roseman, who pleaded the Fifth Amendment when called to testify.[8]

Castillo's VA doctors gave him a 30 percent disabled rating even though he never saw combat, about which Duckworth was not pleased as her own injuries sustained were only a 20 percent disabled rating.[7]

Before entering politics, Duckworth was a helicopter pilot in the Army.[7] In November 2004, the Black Hawk she was flying was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and as a result she lost both legs, and nearly lost her right arm.[7] After returning to the U.S. and undergoing rehab, she became director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and later assistant secretary in the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.[7]

Campaign themes

2012

According to Duckworth's website, her campaign themes included:

Economy: "Small businesses are critical to the success of our economy. Without the ingenuity and determination that small businesses exhibit everyday in the 8th District, our economy could not thrive."

Education: "Education is a valuable resource that we need to invest in now to bolster our economic future. We need to invest in our public schools to make them better and more competitive."

Energy: "We need to think creatively about how to build an economy that is less dependent on foreign oil and instead champions American clean energy innovations. We need to build the foundation for a clean energy economy."[9]

Duckworth had secured the backing of most of Illinois' influential political figures in the Democratic primary against Raja Krishnamoorthi.[2] The two were vying to take on Joe Walsh in the "Democratic-leaning, suburban Chicago district",[2] and the winner was the likely favorite in the general election.[2]

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Duckworth is available dating back to 2012. Based on available campaign finance records, Duckworth raised a total of $5,309,495 during that time period. This information was last updated on April 5, 2013.[13]

According to a report on July 12, 2012, Duckworth raised $886,000 in the second quarter.[17]

Duckworth raised over $1.5 million in the third quarter.[18] On October 15, 2012, quarterly reports were submitted by campaigns to the Federal Election Commission. The political blog Daily Kos did an analysis of the fundraising figures and found Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth outraised Republican incumbent Joe Walsh in the third quarter. Duckworth raised $1,508,000 and has $763,000 cash-on-hand to Walsh's $254,000 in fundraising and $592,000 cash-on-hand.[19]

Lifetime missed votes

According to the website GovTrack, Duckworth missed 0 of 89 roll call votes from Jan 2013 to Mar 2013. This amounts to 0.0%, which is better than the median of 2.2% among current congressional representatives as of March 2013.[21]

Net worth

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Duckworth's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $18,046 and $923,998. That averages to $471,022, which is lower than the average net worth of Democratic Representatives in 2011 of $5,107,874.[22]

Voting with party

2013

Tammy Duckworth voted with the Democratic Party 92.8% of the time, which ranked 149th among the 201 House Democratic members as of June 2013.[23]

Personal

On November 12th, 2004, while serving in Iraq as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, Duckworth's helicopter was hit by an RPG. Duckworth lost both legs and part of the use of her right arm in the explosion, and was awarded the Purple Heart for her combat injuries. [1] Duckworth and her husband Bryan, an Army Major, live in Hoffman Estates where their home was rebuilt for wheelchair access in 2005 by her fellow soldiers and friends. Despite her injuries, she continues to drill as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard. [1]

Recent news

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